Dr Himmatrao Saluba Bawaskar MD

Bawaskar Hospital and Research center (Mahad, Maharashtra)

Bawaskar Hospital and Research center At- Mahad Dist-Raigad Maharashtra India 402301Mesobuthus Tamulus a most lethal scorpion flourished all over Konkan region. 30-40% fatality due to refractory pulmonary edema have been reported from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madurai, Chennai, Pondicherry and Saurashtra ( Gaitonde BB, Jadhav SS and Bawakar HS. Lancet 1978). In the year 1976 Dr Bawaskar HS joined the primary health center Birwadi and studied in detail the clinical signs and symptoms due to the venomous scorpion sting and published an original article in the Lancet 1982. After completion of MD he volunteered to work in a rural Hospital in Poladpur in Raigad district to continue the research in scorpion sting.
In 1981 his doctor wife Pramodini joined his venture. In the year 1983 the doctor couple tried sodium nitroprusside and then prazosin an alpha blocker to reverse the refractory pulmonary edema due to scorpion sting. The fatality due to scorpion sting has dropped to 1%. This was published in the Lancet 1986 and many other tropical medicine journals and British heart Journal. QJM, Annals of tropical medicine parasitology, Annals of tropical pediatrics, Trans.Roy.Soc.Trop.Med.Hyg. Indian Pediatrics, Indian journal of pediatrics. Current science. NEJM Tropical doctor publish editorial on prazosin written by Professor David A. Warrell. He was invited by Ciba foundation London 1994 and Morocco government at Rabat 2009 for discussion and guidance of scorpion sting management.
He is the author of editorials on snake bite and organophosphate poisoning published in JAPI
Recently in January 2011 utility of prazosin and scorpion antivenin scientific paper is published in British Medical Journal with cover illustration and accompanied editorial.
Original contribution on snake poisoning published in Tropical doctor, Trans .Roy.Soc .Trop.Med.Hyg etc.
Dr Bawaskar has contributed two chapters on scorpion and snake bite in API text book of medicine and a chapter on scorpion sting in an international text book of emergency medicine. He was invited as a peer reviewers for scientific article by the editor of Lancet , NEJM, Clinical Toxicology, JAPI , JICMR, Current Science
Dr Bawaskar has traveled extensively across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and trained peripheral doctors by giving lectures and presentations on how to manage scorpion sting and snake bite cases with the limited resources available at the village health center level.
http://www.anilaggrawal.com/ij/vol_009_no_001/others/interview/1/bawaskar.htmlBIBILOGRAPHY Dr H.S.BAWASKAR & P.H.BAWASKAR

About SHE

India has close to 300 species of snakes, out of which 62 have been identified as venomous & semi venomous. With a large number of annual fatalities, India is considered the “death by snakebite “capital of the world.